Hello everyone!

I had a sc300 years ago and never really got to do what I wanted with it before I had to sell it. Now I picked up a 1995 sc300 in a better position with the intentions of swapping in an aristo 2JZ-GTE vvti motor that will remain “stockish”. Some thing fun to drive but having that Toyota reliability. I want to document it in this thread. Not mainly for everyone else because I am a novice, but for myself. This process will be a steep learning curve for me. My daily driver is a truck so I don’t have to rush to get everything done.


This is the car the day I bought it. It has about 160k miles on it.







Random wheels I bought off craigslist I knew would clear LS400 BBK (he had the same setup on his old sc300). I paid 300 and the guy was real cool. Talked for a while and he ended up giving me some random parts he had he didn’t need anymore for free. I scored a head light, 2 97+ fogs, and a brand new warlbro 450 fuel pump for free. I’m not sure what wheels I will run in the end but I like these so far. With the car lowered and maybe a new color for the wheels, it should look good. I have also have a set of is350 wheels I may use instead.












And lastly for now the motor I picked up locally in Miami. The guy had 3 but this looked to be in the best shape. Got it safely home with the help of a couple good friends. I plan on doing a lot of maintenance work to this motor before it goes in the car.

Huge shout out to Ryan Parker, the Supra guru for helping me with this whole process

 

Moved to the SC Build Thread section

The SC looks great and nice find with the factory black interior! Your goals with the stock/near-stock 2JZ-GTE VVT-i engine with great daily reliability will be very attainable. The VVT-i on those engines reportedly is a noticeable improvement in low end torque and response and a modest fuel economy improvement (over a 2JZGTE Non-VVT-i).

Do you plan to keep the SC as an automatic? That Aristo A340E will be quite good for your goals if so. Pair it with an SC400 3.92 diff or a TT Auto (or Aristo) 3.76 and it will be perfect. No doubt you're aware of your options for a manual conversion also.

 

I plan to keep the car auto. Later down the road if I decide to go single I will probably have the auto built, but I might look at 6 speeds. I am going to pick up a sc400 shaft and rear due to them being easier for me to source.

So far I have just been collecting parts. I have almost everything on my list except for a front mount, water pump, an aftermarket oil cooler and some other small misc parts and gaskets.

I sent out the gauge cluster to get fixed and and relit. Half the lights were out and the needles for the tach and speedo were dead.

I am going to be ordering a harness from dr tweak to help my streamline the whole wiring process.

 

Great color combination with those wheels. Looking forward to seeing this!

 

Got the calipers back from the Powdercoater today. He also did my spare is350 wheels that were in rough shape.

If you are going to paint or powder coat your brakes, remember to trim them to clear the bracket before and not after.

 

I'm thinking about this same swap in my 98, how do you plan on controlling the transmission?

 

Makes more sense after seeing your build thread, good luck looks like a good start

 

Had a custom harness made by Tweak'd performance.

First off I want to give a big thanks so far to RudysSC and KahnBB6 for being more than helpful and answering my barrage of questions.

I've been doing little things to the car here and there and collecting more and more parts.




I had a huge list of parts I was ordering from that I lost when my computer died. I will update this thread with hopefully all of the parts I ordered during the process. I will group them as what I found to be necessary and optional. I will start with an older rough draft I had and update it as I go back through my parts bins and add them to the car and order new stuff. As is its no where near complete. I wont add prices because at this point it might make me sick lol.

-Supra TT oil drain pipe #2 and TT oil drain flange.
-New oil drain hoses.
-Oil Drain flange tap and bolts
-Supra TT Motor Mounts
-Re use SC Motor mount brackets.
-Engine hoist
-Engine hoist Leveler
-Spark Plugs
-LS400 Calipers
-LS400 Rotors
-LS400 Brake Pads
-LS400 Caliper Bolts
-Power Steering Hoses
-Supra TT Throttle Cable.
-Front mount Intercooler + Piping
-Supra TT Radiator Hoses
-Vacuum Hoses
-Downpipe
-AfterMarket Supra TT Radiator (Mishimoto/Koyo)
-Transmission cooler (With fan and temp sensor.)
-Tranny cooler lines
-TT Supra Fan Shroud
-Supra TT Fan ***GOT IT
-Supra TT Single Aux cooling fan (Had to find used. This is discontinued by Toyota) Will hopefully keep the car cool and reliable in south florida.
-Mishimoto fan kit. (This relay turns on the Aux cooling fan when either the AC is turned on or when the coolant temp exceeds a preset number that you choose.)
-Radiator mount (Supra -> SC. From Power house racing. People make their own but I wanted a clean look)
-Supra/SC Heater Hoses
-Radiator drain plug adapter for fan temp sensor (This allows you to hook up the sensor from the aux fan relay to measure the coolant temp.)
-JDM TT downpipe
-Restrictor ring or keep 2nd cat, keep boost down. (Still need to figure this out)
-Fuel Cut Defender (HKS)
-Boost Gauge
-Coilovers

I got a deal during the holidays for some rigid tools from Home Depot and they gave me a free battery powered Impact wrench. I ordered some impact sockets from Amazon and I'm very happy with them. I also ordered a few extension and some swivel sockets. The swivels and extensions have been a life saver with some of the bolts and angles. I HIGHLY recommend them.



I also picked up this pulley holder to help me remove the crank bolt. I will be replacing the water pump, crank seals, cam seals, and timing belt. I've heard the crank bolt can be really tough and I don't want to make it harder than it has to be. Hopefully it will give me full leverage so my impact or big breaker bar can make short work of the bolt. Worst case it will be good to have or I can sell it and get some money back for it.





I got my Dr Tweak harness this week as well as my CX Racing front mount intercooler kit. For me to get my harness refund back, I need to send them the SC300 harness within the next 30 days. That's one reason the old motor needs to come out ASAP. The harness and the intercooler kit look great so far.





Here is my other pile of parts and bins full of parts. My wife is totally cool with it sitting in the living room. Shes a keeper!







I took the seats and trim panels out of the car to make everything easier to work with and to get the ECU out. The bolts for the ECU cover were gone so that makes me think someone was in there before but everything looked OK. I needed to get everything unplugged to pull the main harness out. There should be 4 plugs from the 2 ECU boxes, 3 plugs from the side of the kick panel (1 orange and 2 gray), a white plug right under the glove box. I didn't see this plug at first and the harness didn't want to pull through, Don't force or yank it in case you are forgetting a plug. There was also a smaller white plug that unhooked itself thankfully. It must have been pretty close to the firewall on the cabin side. I'm not sure what it went to, maybe someone can chime in and let me know.

Also to note to get the speedometer to work with the Aristo transmission, you have to buy a separate module. Dr. Tweak added the leads on the harness where this will plug in near the ECU. I also had him leave 2 blank pigtails on the harness to easily connect the Fuel cut defencer. This will also reside where the ECU goes.













With that pulled out I worked on disconnecting all of the lines and sensors on the engine bay side. I drained the oil and transmission fluid. I pulled the radiator and all of the cooling lines from the car. I also removed the fan and clutch. I saved the clutch as it will be used on the new motor with the TT fan.

I also removed all of the intake, unbolted the motor mounts, and disconnected the exhaust. This was all very straight forward.

When I got to the power steering I ran in to a small snag. The removed the sensor from the high pressure hose to drain the reservoir. When I went to remove the banjo bolt near the reservoir, I torqued the whole line and damaged the thread where the sensor screws in. Drift Motion sells a braided SS line for like $60 so I think ill go that route. It doesnt have a spot for the sensor so Ill just have to cap off where the vacuum lines go. I also need to order a TT power steering reservoir. It should screw on to this factory bracket near the fuse box.




To get the the fuel line I took off the front left wheel and got to the banjo bolt with an extension. I tried to make sure the car had as little fuel as possible before I started the whole process. I undid the bolt and drained about 2 gallons of fuel from my car and used it in my truck. Having very little fuel should make it easier to do my fuel filter as well.






I also know NOW that I should have unbolted the whole AC compressor before I pulled the engine. Lesson learned.

I still need to figure out what to do with the oil cooler. Some people say to delete it but I cant imagine that's a good idea and I that Toyota has it there for a reason. I might delete the factory cooler and do a oil to air cooler instead. Any input on this would be great.

And lastly for today is a picture of how I've been trying to keep stuff organized. Many many baggies with labels on them.

 

Good progress so far Billy! Don't worry about little mistakes. They happen to all of us You will probably want to get another used PS banjo line off ebay. That one looks fubar'd near its bolt threads. However that gets solved don't forget to use a new OEM PS line double crush washer when you get it all back together.

Organization looks great! It'll save you time later.

The plastic kick cover that goes over the ECU uses common 10mm nuts with flared edges. If you don't have any spares laying around they're pretty easy to look up on the SC300 EPC diagrams on Partsouq. Or just go to a Toyota dealer parts counter one day and ask them for the same nuts for a Supra MKIV's plastic ECU kick cover just under the carpet. Same flared end 10mm nuts that the SC uses.

Also check my build thread for how to Dremel trim the center of that kick cover to better fit your GTE ECU (if needed). The orientation of the GE vs GTE ECUs in the SC's passenger floor board makes that cover's center plastic conflict with the GTE ECU a bit. I put in plenty of pictures to show how to do it. From the outside and structurally it will still be perfect.

And FYI, the Supra TT aux fan is indeed a discontinued assembly that has to be found used, as is probably the little plastic fan blades. The motor however is not and actually cross references to a few years of the Toyota Prius. If it ever fails that can be replaced with the same motor part with some creative reassembly and re-mounting of the little fan blades.

It's an expensive little OEM motor (so shop around!) but it's built to last and last and last since it's a constant duty design.

—16363-46060 or 16363-50021 Replacement 2JZGTE A/C fan motors OEM

The TT Aux fan electrical connectors in case you don't have them yet:

90980-11236 aux fan 93.5-98 [motor side]
90980-11235 aux fan 93.5-98 [ harness side ]

The terminal wires for those I don't have offhand but they're listed in my build thread where I go over the aux fan install.

Don't forget to buy the correct Earls conversion adapters to run the Mishimoto fan controller's 1/8" NPT coolant temp sensor in the stock location for the OEM TT digital temp switch on the bottom of your aftermarket MKIV TT radiator.

Edit-- Here's the relevant post I made showing how to modify the SC300/400 ECU kick cover panel to cleanly fit over a 2JZ-GTE ECU like stock:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/bui...l#post10241289

 

Yesterday was a big step, the old motor finally got pulled from the car. The transmission is indeed a slip in and there's no extra bolts to take it off of the drive shaft. Even though I double checked and my friend check again, we were bound to have left something connected before the pull. The brake booster line was still connect, but we noticed this almost immediately. The throttle cable however got stretched out before we saw it. Thankfully I need to replace it with the Supra TT cable anyways because of it being longer. Other than that the motor came out in about 15 minutes and without a hitch. I highly recommend getting a load leveler to make the process easier. It was $40 well spent on amazon. Now that I have the engine out I want to tackle some engine bay cleaning. I believe there was a DIY with a pressure cleaner somewhere on the site.

Next well be removing the SC300 transmission from the motor and getting the motor on the stand to steal all of the valuable things I will need off of it. Oil pans and related pieces, AC compressor, alternator, thermostat housing, and im sure some other stuff I'm forgetting at the moment. I dont plan on getting rid of this motor until my swap is 100% done in case I forget something.

Getting the new motor ready will take a bit longer as some hoses and the oil pipes were on back order. I should have them early next month. I will also need to disconnect the transmission to get to the rear seal that I want to replace. I'm debating if I want to change the transmission filter while I'm at it. Next will be the timing belt, cam seals, crank seals, and new timing belt tensioner before that gets put back together.

 

Looking very good! I'm amazed you were able to get the stock engine out without removing the rear bumper first. You must have used a 2.5 ton or larger engine crane.

Now that you have both engines side by side, take your time and go through as much servicing of the 2JZ-GTE VVT-i as you dare to. It will help you out in the long run to be able to consider all the major service items as being done. I recommend buying a Harbor Freight "V" style engine stand to mount it on (get the correct thread and pitch bolts in strong grade for this. I forget which "Grade" strength bolts are recommended but they need to be strong to hold the 650lbs+ of weight).

When you remove the GE oil pan to tap for the turbo oil drain be sure to make that hole complete and smooth for good flow. And thoroughly clean the whole pan of any shavings before getting to installing it on the GTE block. You also must swap over your GE oil level sender (buy a new gasket for it) and the GE oil level dipstick. Same for the GE oil strainer pickup and the metal plate inside the pan right near it.

All those OEM hoses on the GTE that we've talked about... you're doing the right thing by going through the engine and replacing all the critical ones.

Also keep in mind that when referencing my build thread there are minor differences in the stock JDM and USDM twin turbo systems as well as the JDM and USDM fuel system. But most major things cross-reference between both versions of the 2JZ-GTE engine. Keep the Partsouq EPC link for that engine handy for any part number discrepancies.

 

Thanks again. Not sure of the rating of the crane but it’s a huge steel beast of a crane. It’s old by my friend got it from buddy who used to build race cars. As far as the engine stand goes I already picked the one up from harbornfreight that was like 60 bucks. I think it supports 1000 lbs. is this the one you are talking about?

https://www.harborfreight.com/1000-l...and-69886.html

where could I get the right bolts? Ace or Home Depot?

 

I'll bet it's a beast of an engine crane. With SC's you really can't use less than a 2-ton rated model with enough extension to handle the engine's weight safely (550lbs or so for GE's and 650lbs or so for GTE's).

I'm familiar with that engine stand you linked. That's the most common "T" variety. However I'd recommend this "V" stand instead which is what I bought and used:

https://www.harborfreight.com/2000-l...and-69522.html

Two reasons:

1) The 2JZ engine is long being an inline-six and the more an engine sticks out from the rear bellhousing area mounting points where all the weight is hanging the more you'll want that weight to be spread out in a very stable way. 650lbs+ is a lot.

2) Lateral stability especially when working, using a breaker bar on a tough to loosen bolt or when applying high torque with your torque wrenches (ie: a 100ft-lb CDI torque wrench or a 250ft-lbs Tekton torque wrench for the crankshaft dampener's required 239ft-lbs where a metal extender bar and second helper are needed).

Basically it's a long and very heavy engine and the "V" stand will offer more stability and safety. There are more expensive "V" engine stands that also have a gear driven hand crank at the back to make flipping the engine very easy for one person to do by themselves but unless you're a professional builder all you should need is a friend to help for the couple of times the 2JZ needs to be flipped 180 degrees.

I highly recommend the "V" style engine stand even though it does unfortunately cost over double the price of the "T" stand. I'd use a "T" stand for a lighter aluminum engine like a 4cyl Honda for instance.

The bolts you will need are four 12mm x1.25 thread pitch in 3 & 1/2 inches of length. Get them at any hardware store such as Ace. Make sure they sell you *strong* grade bolts and if someone is helping you find them let them know that you will be hanging over 650lbs off four of them on an engine stand.

It's a good thing your engine crane is massive because the only issue I had using a V-style engine stand was getting my crane aligned with the engine stand at the right angle to pick up and lower the engine onto and off of the stand. It was a tight clearance but doable with a 2-ton crane. With the bigger crane you have on hand I do not think there will be any problem.

Regardless I'd go with the V rather than T stand for the better stability with this long and heavy engine while working on it.

 

Awesome progress, it looks terrific! Keep it up man.

ps - cool to see a picture of the tweak harness - helped me figure out what came with my motor because my harness looks almost identical. Same sheathing, zip tie locations, plugs, etc. Might come in handy to know.

 

I started to get some of the random hoses in that I wanted to replace. The first one that came in was the heater outlet hose. I believe this is supposed to be the supra specific one but for the life of me I think its the wrong hose. I dont see any way that it looks like the current one they cut off or any way that it can make it to the firewall. Can anyone help me on a correct hose/part number? I either ordered the wrong thing or looked at the parts diagram wrong. The weird thing is if you look at drift motions site they sell a replacement hose kit and the hose on the left in the picture looks just like the shape of this one. This hose can get replace easily with the engine installed but I have no choice to replace it since they cut the old one off my donor motor.

https://www.driftmotion.com/HPS-Blue...o-p/dm6125.htm

Here are pics of the hose that came in in comparison with the old one and my motor. Can someone please take a picture of how yours looks and possibly hook me up with a correct part number? Maybe Im just getting thrown off because the hose that's still on there is for the Aristo.